In Remembrance: James Reece Pratt, FAIA

9 November 2018

James Reece Pratt, FAIA
1927-2018

We are saddened by the loss of James Pratt, FAIA, whose influential career spanned over 60 years. His impact on our community through his landmark work on Goals for Dallas and the Trinity River corridor is immeasurable. He was the author of Dallas Visions for Community, a comprehensive land plan and concept for Dallas’ future, and he served on the committee that wrote Prairie’s Yield.

James is also remembered for his legacy of service to the profession as president of AIA Dallas in 1969 and vice president of the Chapter in 1961. He was the recipient of the 2010 AIA Dallas Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the 1995 Texas Society of Architects Citation of Honor with the Dallas Institute of the Humanities.

His firm, Pratt Box Henderson received 18 Design Awards from AIA Dallas and TxA, as well as three AIA Dallas 25-Year Awards. The architecture of Pratt Box Henderson was rooted in its time and place, drawing on proven means of dealing with Texas climate and culture, while embracing the possibilities and expressions of modern technology. In 1959, the firm received first place in a national competition to design an efficient house for a modest-income family of the future. “The body of work of James Pratt, Hal Box, and Philip Henderson is among the most significant of any 20th century firm in North Texas, notable for its creativity, quality, and diversity,” says Robert Meckfessel, FAIA.

James also received two Design Awards individually. Among his significant buildings are St. Stephens United Methodist Church in Mesquite, Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch, the College of Architecture building at University of Texas at Arlington, the Quadrangle, the Dallas Garden Center Solarium, the Great Hall of the Apparel Mart, and the renovation of the Dallas County Courthouse. The firm consulted for the State Fair of Texas for seven years; worked to connect Fair Park to downtown and the Dallas Convention Center; planned trade marketplaces for Trammell Crow in Dallas, London, Taipei, and Cairo; built and planned hotels in Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa; and constructed six off-campus student housing projects for colleges in the western US.

He will be deeply missed. Services will be planned in Dallas and we will share information as soon as it is available.